EMEA Private Equity Market Snapshot Issue 30

Welcome to the 30th issue of the EMEA Private Equity Market Snapshot (PEMS), a quarterly publication focusing on the Private Equity (PE) market in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Results from an annual survey conducted among Private Equity (PE) and Venture Capital (VC) firms indicates that investors have an overall positive outlook for 2022 markets. Investors anticipate that the deal-making will continue to increase along 2021 trends. Over half of respondents anticipate fundraising will remain the same, and 36% think it will grow, which is up from last year’s predictions.

Information Technology (IT) and Healthcare still lead in sectors attracting the most activity, but ESG concerns are taking an increasingly central role. Concerns about COVID-19 still linger, but they have diminished significantly from the previous year. Investors are now more concerned about the risks of inflation and rising interest rates.

The survey also asked firms about their digitization efforts, and while technology adoption remains somewhat slow in some areas, more investors are using digital tools to find opportunities for growth and remain competitive.

The second half of this report examines PE/VC activity in the Central and Eastern European region (CEE) from 2015-2021. After a stagnant 2020, deal-making rebounded in 2021 to €2.3bn. Poland saw the highest growth in aggregate deal value, while Estonia’s became increasingly attractive to tech investors. By contrast, Russian investment firms have increasingly invested outside of the country, and foreign investors are reluctant to take on the risks associated with political and economic instability in the country.